Sunday, November 30, 2008

What books and/or magazines did I read this month? Books: The Reformer (Palm)Stalking the Unicorn (iPod)1635: Canon Laws (started)Black Ice (started)Cleared out the periodicals pile to <10 from >30!

What movies and/or tv shows did I watch this month? Usual network TV, nothing new to report there.Loads of election coverage. New movies: Quantum of Solace (Meh at best, far from the best Bond film out there...)Wall-E (Fun, but I don't think I'd watch it again)88 Minutes (Fairly predictable thriller, but worth watching)

What special days did I celebrate and how?

Election Day! Sadly, as it turns out, I went to bed about 10 minutes before they officially projected B. Obama's win. In my defense, I'd been up half the night before. See the last question for what's been keeping me up at nights!

Thanksgiving we had Michelle over and did my version of a full Turkey Day Dinner: Ham, peas, carrots, corn, beans, scalloped cheesy potatos and jellied salad. Brian made apple pie for dessert and turned down my offer to get him a pumpkin pie.

What gifts did I give and/or receive? Bought lots of Christmas gifts, but haven't given any.

What illnesses or health concerns did I have? All dental, all month. Final update from the dentist now that I've had a full evaluation is that I need two more small fillings. I'm holding off on them until January when I can use the Flex Plan at work to cover my half of it... Both the dentist and I were pleased and surprised by how little else I need.

What fun things did I do with my friends and/or family?For the fun stuff, read my other entries! :)

What new foods, recipes or restaurants did I try this month? New italian place in NYC with Neal and Tina. Three thumbs up!Brian made a new pan-less apple pie recipe for Thanksgiving that turned out fabulous!

What special or unusual purchases did I make?

A new Airport Extreme. Our old router was dying the death of 5x/day resets and it was time for a new one. With the Extreme, I can print wirelessly and connect an external hard drive to automate our backups so they actually get done more frequently! As mentioned earler, lots of presents, but I'm not telling what I bought!Also, I bought a funky audio cable and rewired our home entertainment system. That little $15 cable has given our TV a new lease on life! While we were at Disney we were (presumably) hit by lightning. The power bar did it's job, and the only ill effect was it blew the speaker in the TV. I'm not going to complain about that! By figuring out how to rewire the sound from the cable box through the DVD player, we now have clean sound again and didn't have to buy a new TV. Man they've gotten expensive! Besides, I'd already spent any possible TV money on the dentists!

What were this month's disappointments? Dealing with a very reputable website who turned out to have horrific customer (dis)service when they shipped me the wrong item instead of the 4 gifts I've ordered for neices and nephews. The right things had BETTER get here in time for me to ship them home to Canada for Christmas!

What were my accomplishments this month? I hope I've overcome the worst of my dentist phobia. This new one is great, takes his time, and makes sure I'm completely frozen. Between that, and the Xanax, it's so very much better than any of my past experiences! Oh, and I got a pretty good job review.

Anything else to share?

We're going to be moving. We're having to deal with the delightful legal system here in trying to get the court's permission to break our lease without having to pay penalties. Given that the reason we want to break the lease is the new owner's complete refusal to do anything effective about the squirrels in the roof over us, we expect to win, it's just going to take a bit more time. They've definately broken the Warrant of Habitability, so we've a solid case, and we documented all our concerns in writing with signature required and they've had 10 weeks to deal with it. So we're covered at least! We're pretty sure we know where we want to move to. It'll be a much longer drive for both of us, but it's a huge place and we're both really excited about it. Full townhouse with garage, two bedrooms and front and back yards! Everyone keep your fingers crossed for us! Now we just need permission to give our 60 day notice and we'll be getting out of here!

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Sunday we headed into the city and went to the American Museum of Natural History to use our Space tickets we'd gotten when we signed up for our membership. Nothing like waiting until the last minute to use them, they expire Dec. 4th! Then we met up with our friends Tina and Neal for the real reason for the trip into the city: a talk and signing by Neil Gaiman! We went out to dinner first at a little italian place that turned out to be pretty good. My pasta was excellent, Tina and Neal's pizza was fantastic and we all wanted to steal some of Brian's lasagna... Then off to the talk! I've never been to something like this so I didn't really know what to expect. We had fabulous seats. Third row back and in the center, and although we bought them separately online using the "best available" option, we ended up right next to each other! The talk was awesome and very entertaining. The host (Chip Kidd) was fabulous at his job. He kept it moving and convinced Neil Gaiman to tell some absolutely fabulous stories. Then it was into the signing line. And the real flaw of the organization came through. The signing line started from the rear of the auditorium. Meaning those of us who were great fans and bought our tickets early were stuck at the end of the line. Grrr! We ended up sending Brian home early to catch an earlier train since he had to work early in the morning. But eventually we got to our turn to get things signed, and neither Tina nor I turned into babbling fangirl idiots. I consider that a success! The least said about my train ride home, the better... Overall it was a fabulous day and great experience. I'm very glad we went.

Wednesday was to be my second author talk/signing. Yes, two in one week! Jaime Oliver was going to be at our local Barnes and Noble! This one, sadly, wasn't nearly as good. The tickets were being handed out starting at 4pm. Brian was awesome and traded shifts to get there in time to get tickets for me and Michelle, who was going to come with me. And again, we had fabulous seats. Brian got us tickets number 4 and 5! Unfortunatley, Michelle got sick at work that afternoon and ended up going home and not coming to the signing. It sounds like it was a very nasty bug, so I'm happy she went and took care of herself. Now, where NG's signing was well organized and run, this was the opposite. Whoever does the scheduling for Jamie Oliver thought it would be no problem to get out here from Manhattan in 75 minutes during peak rush hour. Doh! He ended up arriving a little past 8, and because he was running so late, they cancelled the talk portion of the evening, and the autographs were restricted to just autographs. Not even personalized ones like we got from NG. I'm very glad we'd been to that one first so I saw how positive an experience it could be. This one would have sworn me off them otherwise.

Then last night (Friday), Brian got one of his Christmas presents early. I had to give it to him early, since it was tickets to a show, and they would have been useless if I'd waited! We went and saw the Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood show! We saw them a couple of years ago and had a fantastic time of it, so I was really pleased to see they were coming back this way and the tickets were more than affordable. Being Mr. Uncurious that he is, he's known there were tickets that were a gift for him on the bulletin board in an opened envelope for almost 2 months now and had no desire to peak at what they were! No way would I have managed that feat! The show was as phenomenal as we remembered and we both had a great time. We laughed until it hurt and then kept laughing some more! It's all improv comedy, mostly loosely based on games from shows like "Whose Line is it Anyways?". I can't recommend it highly enough!

Then this morning I went back to the dentist again. This time to get the permanent crown put in on the tooth I had the root canal done. It went really well, much better than I had any expectation of. It's never pleasant, but it didn't hurt, and now I should not have any further problems with that tooth. And the problem I'd developed with the other teeth being super sensitive to cold was caused by my "overbrushing". I've got a paste that should help, and am told to brush gentler and it will go much better. This afternoon, since I'm doing much better, we're going out to see Quantum of Solace. We both really want to go see Becky's Choir concert tonight in Mineola, but we're playing it by ear on how I'm feeling. Keep your fingers crossed!

I've had problems with nightmares for years. Never know when a random one will hit, but I know not to do things that will encourage them. Like watch scary movies. I've been teased since I was a teenager that I was such a wuss. And I never cared because the teasing was faaaaaar better than the nightmare. Interestingly, I can read things as freaky as I like and be fine. Even Brian (who loves scary movies, the more intense the better) was pretty freaked out by Neil Gaiman's Sandman and had to stop reading it at bedtime. Me, I ran through the first volume in two nights of bedtime reading and was fine.

So take tonight. I know the root of this dream, at 8:30am, I'll be back at the dentist for the crown.* And tonight I get hit with a dozy of a nightmare. Involving a freaky nasty insane dental surgeon who, amongst other horrors, cuts the tongues from siamese twin girls (about 9 years old). Then, with a proper nice announcer voice saying "meanwhile, in the next operating room over" my dentist is just getting started on me. And has a heart attack. And other surgeon comes in to take over. Thankfully, I woke up at that point. But if you think I can get back to sleep tonight, you're as insane as the freaky guy!

So I'm just going to sit here and catch up on everyone's blogs. Distract myself. And love Percy to death, since it's what he wants me to do anyways!

*And is it just me, or is 8:30am on a Saturday not an inhumane time to have to be at the dentist?

Thursday, November 06, 2008

I had a root canal this morning and still made it to work by 9am. And best of all, absolutely no ouch. None. In fact, (granted probably due to the drugs) I fell asleep while they were still working on getting my jaw frozen. It's sore this evening, of course, but I'm amazed at how big an improvement this is over past experiences at the dentist. I'll be going back to him without qualm. I'm not looking forward to it at all, but I'm no longer terrified. Which is good because I go back for the crown on the 15th!

Now, if only I can get off the drugs long enough to get some stitching done! I did get Michelle's birthday card done in time for today, but still need to do several other family ones and get them in the mail.

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Current project is a gift, so I don't want to give it away. But it'sa HAED design, and it's more than 1/4 finished! I got a lot of workdone on it over the last week or so, and the last quarter should fly(mostly one colour). In other news, lots of medical visits. They'relooking at a new diagnosis for Brian's sleep disorder, so keep yourfingers crossed for us. I'd *LOVE* to actually have both of us ableto sleep well!

And for me, emergency dental work. Ugh. I have a pretty severedental phobia. Make that very severe. To the point I ignore things Ishouldn't. And put them off. But I made a promise to myself that Iwas going to deal with it, and put money into our flex plan for nextyear towards it. I'm going to try sedation dentistry. Go in, getknocked out, wake up with everything done. Works for me. It's justexpensive. So the plan was January. Except I've lost a filling. AndI knew this (it was what prompted the soul searching about getting thedental work done in the first place). But it's becomeinfected/inflamed/I-don't-know-what-but-it-hurts-like-hell and I hadto break down and go last night. And tomorrow before work (at theungodly hour of 7:30am) I have to get that filling replaced. Wish meluck. I like this new dentist. He specializes in patients who areterrified like me. I have to take a Xanex tomorrow morning before Igo and hope that that will help with the panic. He's promised to govery slow, and make sure I am actually frozen before starting. Keepyour fingers crossed for me! And if this works, I might be able toavoid the whole general anesthesia bit. And that would be a goodthing. A very good thing.